months before a door plug blew off midair this Alaska Airlines plane rolled off the floor here at Boeing's 737 Factory it's where a subsequent audit found the plane maker failed to comply with quality control requirements meant to keep that plane safe at the factory there are multiple layers of inspection handled by groups with different responsibilities and limitations there's a direct correlation between the quality in the factory and the quality of the plane in service and the Alaska accident is a dramatic example of that Boeing was given 90 days to present Regulators with a plan to fix its quality control issues to understand what those issues are let's look at each layer of Boeing's quality process first Boeing's own quality inspectors when the plane is being assembled inside the factory they're generally speaking are different types of inspection Boeing's team of quality control inspectors are in place to perform checks and tests on Mechanics Work Boeing has in the past eliminated some of these inspections and put mechanics in charge of checking their own work but the company said self-inspection now accounts for only a small percentage of inspection methods you may do great job but you may have days where you don't do a great job and not having that quality control person there looking over your shoulder can be a real problem Ed Pearson worked in Boeing's retin plant for 3 years before becoming a whistleblower after the deadly 73 Max crashes he raised concerns about quality problems he saw during his time at the factory bottom line is the 737 Factory needs to be thoroughly investigated including work that happens out of the production Line's ordinary sequence so-called traveled work there's this incredible pressure to push the planes out the door and you know mistakes are made when that happens Federal investigators probing the Alaska incident have identified traveled work as a liability when it comes to airplane quality on this Boeing CFO Brian West said recently for years we prioritized the movement of the airplane through the factory over getting it done right and that's got to change this stuff matters and in an address to employees after the door plug incident Boeing CEO David Calhoun said I know I'm preaching to the choir here this isn't electure not by any stretch it's nothing more than a reminder of the seriousness with which we have to approach our work Calhoun has since said he would step down as CEO at the end of the year as a part of a broader company shakeup the head of Boeing's commercial aircraft business and the executive in charge of the 737 Factory have also stepped aside another layer of inspection the organization designation authorization or Oda their job is to look at the finished work by the Boeing Employees and the Boeing quality team and and check to see whether or not the airplane conforms with Federal safety rules the oda's responsibilities are approved by the FAA but members AR employed by the FAA these are Boeing Employees who represent the FAA they report to the FAA even though they're paid by Boeing the FAA inspectors Union has previously said this structure effectively lets the fox guard the hen housee there have been problems in the past where these Oda employees who work for the FAA felt pressure from management Boeing has said it's made changes to prevent such interference but a recent FAA panel's report said there are still opportunities for retaliation to occur and there is a disconnect between Boeing Senior Management and other members of the organization on safety culture Boeing said it has taken steps to Foster its safety culture but there is still more work to do the final layer of inspection on Boeing planes the FAA itself while the plane is being assembled FAA inspectors check Boeing's quality system by and large it's an auditing operation they're reviewing paperwork they're not actually inspecting aircraft but the FAA does inspect each plane before it's delivered after a flight test the plane is given to FAA inspectors for final approval they do it's called an air worthiness certificate inspection which is it's like you know if you build a house House at the End of the house being built you do a walk through a retired FAA inspector said in the final walkthrough on an aircraft inspectors typically Pick 10 to 20 items to double check against the plane's approved specifications if those items look good the plane is cleared if not the FAA May conduct further inspections it is Boeing's job not the fa's job to make quality aircraft as somebody who used to work at the agency told me we are not Boeing's quality Department before the Airlines blowout the FAA had eight inspectors assigned to the Renton site which employs roughly 13,000 Boeing workers that's not enough to monitor the restaurant operations at the site much less the facility where they're building planes following the door plug incident the FAA sent 20 more inspectors to the factory and Renton and pledged a more Hands-On approach there's a lot of pressure from Congress and the public to make sure that the FAA is going to push going to fix itself when asked about its changes fa administrator Mike Whitaker said we are migrating to A system that is I would call audit plus so we're going to have more of a surveillance component where inspectors are actually on the ground talking to people and and looking at the work that's being done in the weeks following the Alaska Airlines incident more loose Parts MISD drilled holes a federal investigation and a criminal probe into the blowout have put more pressure on the plane maker to get this right there's a lot at stake and this is why we're saying you know don't be full don't don't think just because we patched up the Alaska plane you know incident that everything is good there's a lot of work that needs to get done and the good news is all these things are fixable Boeing's proposed changes to its quality process remain to be seen Boeing CFO said we're undertaking comprehensive actions so that we can move forward to strengthen quality and build confidence that includes deliberately slowing down aircraft production at the factory as Boeing faces increased scrutiny from Regulators we've increased our audit and our oversight of Boeing pretty significantly since January 5th if we see something that requires us to to cease production or pull something down we'll do that for now planes are still rolling off the line but the FAA has put Boeing's plan to increase production here on Ice the FAA has choked off Boeing's ability to produce cash flow until it is satisfied that Boeing can produce quality safe aircraft